"Story in the Public Square" honored with win in 47th-annual Telly Awards

The Pell Center at Salve Regina University has been honored with its 13th Telly Award for "Story in the Public Square." The show won bronze in the Social Impact category for its episode featuring documentary filmmaker Julian Brave Noisecat, who tells the story of the rampant child abuse that occurred at residential schools for indigenous children in Canada.

In the award-winning episode originally broadcast in October 2025, Noisecat told the story of abuse several generations of indigenous children endured at the residential schools. This story is personal for Noisecat, whose father chose to tell their family's story in the documentary he co-directed. Noisecat reflected, saying, "we're really grateful everybody has seen the intention and the love behind our choice to tell such a heavy, personal story in a way that hopefully brings healing to people and helps others understand what it really means to live with this somber legacy."

The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens and are judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks and production companies. This year's winners include Adobe, Calvin Klein, ESPN, LinkedIn, Mother Jones, MTV Entertainment Studios, NASA, the LA Clippers (NBA), PlayStation Studios, Sawhorse Productions, TelevisaUnivison and more.

Jim Ludes, vice president of strategic initiatives at Salve and co-executive producer, remarked: "This is a testament to the great work of our crew—who consistently turn raw ideas and conversation into compelling episodes—and a guest in Julian Brave Noisecat whose courageous storytelling gave us an episode we won’t forget."

Co-executive producer G. Wayne Miller said, "Julian's family's story, which is the story of countless other families historically, is a sobering example of the grave injustices so many have endured in Canada and the U.S. His film is a masterpiece and to say we were honored to bring it to our audiences would be an understatement."

"Video has never been more contested, more creative or more consequential than it is right now," shared Amanda Needham, managing director of The Telly Awards. "The Telly Awards has had a front-row seat to this industry for 47 years, and today's entertainment is happening in multiple formats, across every screen and at every budget level."

With over 13,000 entries from across the globe and top video and television content producers, winners were chosen by The Telly Awards judging council, which features more than 250 experts across the world of video. This year welcomed judges including Tamara Kruger, head of content and sponsorships, Google; Janet Graham Borba, executive VP of production, HBO; Phil Cook, chief marketing officer, WNBA; and Andrea Wertheim, senior manager post production, Netflix. The full list of the 47th Annual Telly Awards winners can be found here.

"Story in the Public Square" has been in production at Ocean State Media since January 2017 and is currently seen in 85 percent of the nation's television markets with nearly 500 weekly broadcasts. It has won Telly Awards for excellence in politics and commentary, history and social impact in 2025 (four), 2024 (two) 2022, 2021, 2020 (two); 2019 and 2018. The show is produced by the Pell Center at Salve Regina University and presented by Ocean State Media via NETA, the National Educational Telecommunications Association.